The Girls in the Water – Victoria Jenkins

I’m one of two stops closing this fabulous blog tour so please also drop by If In Doubt Read 🙂

When the body of Lola Evans is found in a local park on a cold winter’s morning, Detective Alex King and her new recruit Chloe Lane are called in to lead the hunt for the killer.

Days later, a second girl goes missing. It seems the two shared a troubled history, and were members of the same support group. Who is the monster preying on these vulnerable girls?

As the detectives start to piece together the clues, Chloe realises that she too is in danger – as she uncovers secrets about her own brother’s death which someone will kill to keep hidden.

Alex and Chloe are soon fighting for their lives, and in a race against time to reach the next victim before it’s too late…

Chilling and totally compelling with an utterly surprising twist, The Girls in the Water is perfect for fans of Robert Bryndza, Sarah Hilary, and Patricia Gibney.

Well this is certainly a solid and extremely promising start to a new police procedural series featuring two fantastic female detectives! I was first drawn to this book after seeing that fabulous cover (Bookouture certainly have a way with cover art!) and added to the ever-groaning TBR when I read the blurb.

The Girls in the Water introduces us to DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane. Alex is in her forties, an experienced detective but is trying to put her life back together after a few difficult years in her personal life, Chloe is in her twenties, relatively new to the job and the team but the women have instantly built up mutual respect and rapport despite their apparent differences. I think they are more alike than either of them realises!

Alex and Chloe are investigating the murder of a young woman whose body has been found in the water in a local park, shortly afterwards another young woman goes missing and ends up in a similar watery grave – too much coincidence?!

Alex and the team are immersed within the investigation but Chloe is distracted by something from her past. She opens up to Alex who promises to help once this case is over but Chloe cannot leave it, not helped by the emails taunting her progress.

The prologue sets the tone for the book which is chilling! I thoroughly enjoyed the pace of the book, and whilst we were being introduced to new characters, this didn’t detract from the investigations. Victoria Jenkins has seamlessly woven together the formal investigation and the private investigation that Chloe is doing on the side – I enjoyed seeing both the professional and personal sides of both protagonists.

Throughout the book, the tension is aided by the first person accounts of the kidnapped women leading up to their untimely deaths which provides a different side to the narrative and gives an insight into the mind of the killer.

I am pleased to see that Jenkins is writing book 2 as this is one series that I’m definitely going to keep up to date with – I look forward to seeing Alex and Chloe’s relationship develop further and what other investigations they get their teeth into.

A fantastic debut which starts as it means to go on, with a fantastic investigation and character development. Most definitely a series that is one to watch out for!

Victoria Jenkins lives with her husband in South Wales, where she writes crime fiction and teaches English. The Girls in the Water is her debut novel, the first featuring Detective Inspector Alex King and Detective Constable Chloe Lane. The second book in the series will be published in late 2017.